Cops, Golden Corral Cook Up Fund-Raiser

Jo Rask and other COPS Northeast volunteers usually pound the neighborhood sidewalks for donations to help put on an annual dinner fund-raiser.

This year, they left the cooking to the professionals at the Golden Corral restaurant, which was the stage for a fund-raiser that featured McGruff the Crime Dog, an Easter raffle and a bicycle giveaway.

Rask has been the fund-raising coordinator for COPS Northeast since the substation opened in 1992.

“This is a fun night. It’s nice when we get to do something like this,” Rask said.

The Golden Corral has a bike giveaway as a part of its Kids Night every Tuesday.

“It’s a kids night, and that’s what we’re all about at the COPS shops, taking care of kids and everyone else,” Rask said.

A percentage of Golden Corral’s profits made between 4 and 7 p.m. Tuesday was given to COPS NE to be used for public programming and operating expenses.

This was the first time Golden Corral assisted in a COPS fund-raiser.

Assistant Manager Steve Ross said if it went well Tuesday night, there could be more collaborations in the future.

“There are people who have been around for a while, and some of them don’t know about the COPS shops. It’s good to raise community awareness,” Ross said .

While children were getting their picture taken with McGruff, COPS shop volunteers were recruiting help and passing out information.

Volunteer Donna Jilbert was having an early dinner with her family before she worked the information desk.

“If people see us here, there is a possibility for them to join COPS. Just by being here we’re making the public more aware that we’re out there,” Jilbert said.

The COPS fund-raiser even attracted three officers from the Vermont Department of Corrections who spent a week in Spokane gathering ideas on community policing.

“(Spokane COPS) is nationally recognized, and we’re here to observe how they operate, where their volunteers come from, how they got around their problems, anything helpful,” said Greg Ale, Vermont corrections officer.

Tony Martel, also a Vermont corrections officer, noted the value of older volunteers.

“They have a wealth of knowledge that can really help,” Martel said.

Martel, Ale and their supervisor, Mike Touchett, work in Burlington, Vt., which has a population of about 35,000, Martel said.

At the end of the fund-raiser, Golden Corral workers gathered a small crowd at the front of the restaurant for the bicycle raffle.

Second-prize winner, 6-year-old Hailee Ramsey, won a stuffed bulldog donated by COPS NE.

When 7-year-old Jacob Hill’s name was called for the first-prize Huffy Reaction dirt bike, he was bashful and turned to hug his dad around the waist.

David Hill, Jacob’s dad, said he planned to donate Jacob’s old bike to the Little Academy of Bears preschool.

The name of the Easter Basket raffle winner will be announced Saturday at the COPS NE Youth Rally and Egg Hunt at Shaw Middle School.